Fritz Scholder (1937–2005) was a boundary-breaking artist known for his bold and unorthodox depictions of Native American life and identity. Scholder was of Luiseño descent on his patrilineal side. His mother was of German and French ancestry. Scholder grew up in various parts of the Midwest as his family moved frequently due to his father’s job with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In a formative period during high school in South Dakota, Scholder studied under the legendary artist Oscar Howe. He later studied in Sacramento under Contemporary Art icon Wayne Thiebaud.

Prior to Fritz Scholder’s famed “Indian Series”, the artist explored abstraction, uniquely depicting the surrounding environment. With gestural brushstrokes and a keen eye for composition Scholder captured the essence of the natural world while imbuing it with a surreal, otherworldly quality. These abstract landscapes are not mere reflections of reality but rather interpretations of the emotional and psychological landscapes within. These works comprise a sophisticated, desirable and finite body of work that Scholder began after moving to Phoenix Arizona to Study and then Santa Fe, NM to begin teaching at IAIA (Institute of American Indian Arts) in the early 1960s.

During his time teaching and painting at the newly established IAIA, Scholder began his career-defining exploration of Native American subjects. Fritz Scholder’s iconic “Indian Series” shattered traditional romanticized portrayals of Native Americans. His work rejected the "noble savage” trope and instead portrayed Native people as they were, in more human, contemporary, and often unsettling ways. Scholder's style combined elements of Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Realism, with a palette dominated by bright, often unanticipated colors that gave his subjects a ghostly, surreal quality.

Scholder exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. He was invited to participate in the prestigious Dartmouth Residency program in 1973. Fritz Scholder was also offered solo exhibitions at well-known institutions, such as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Wheelwright Museum, Denver Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Crocker Art Museum, and the Tweed Museum, among many others.

Fritz Scholder's paintings can be found in the private collections of major art connoisseurs as well as in prestigious institutions including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Denver Art Museum.